When confronted with the fact that a couple of the terrorist’s passports were found on the ground near the WTC after 9/11, 9/11 conspiracy theorists, including a few loons like Sent and BPD here in April, insist that the fact that the passports were found there proves it was a U.S. government set-up job. Their “reasoning” is that it would have been impossible for those passports to escape the crashed aircraft and burning buildings to land, “magically”, on the ground.
Well, then! That proves it! The U.S. Government, following orders from the PNAC branch of the Illuminati, obviously conspired to kill Cory Lidle because he was about to reveal his secret role in the 9/11 conspiracy! No, wait, that doesn’t quite work. Too obvious. I got it, the CIA killed the secret mastermind of 9/11 in that crash, and planted Lidle’s passport so that the public would associate baseball with terrorism forever in their minds! Um, er, I got nothing…
Hell, I wasn’t even aware we needed passports to get from NJ to NYC!
(Seriously, why was he carrying his passport with him? Was he travelling abroad recently or planning on it, anyone know?)
To answer the OP: Personally, I don’t know what to think about the finding of Atta’s passport from 9/11, but I sure know that it’s ridiculous in the extreme to measure the extraordinary fact of its survival (which is indeed extraordinary whether one views it as fortunate coincidence or proof of conspiracy) against Lidle’s passport’s survival.
I mean, how can one compare the likelihood of finding paper-based documents from a twin engine plane crash made at slow speed (the engines were failing, by many accounts) versus finding the same type of documents from amid the devastation resulting from two massive jets flying at full speed into two office buildings, followed by fireballs with such intensity that the heat caused no less than three different buildings – including two of the highest buildings on earth – to crumble into a fine powder?
And how can one measure the probability of finding Lidle’s paperwork (when he was only one of two people on board his plane) versus that of finding a passport of a single person – and not just any single person, but the very person who masterminded the hijacking no less – from among 200 passengers on 9/11, not to mention finding it from among what must have been countless amounts of papers and documents scattered to the four winds* when three huge-ass office buildings were destroyed?
My point is that of all the aspects of 9/11 alternative theories to mock, you’ve probably found what’s possibly the least mock-worthy. Because it is astounding that Atta’s passport was found, period.
I ain’t kidding … for days after 9/11 we could see dozens of charred documents and letters on my block, and I’m more than three miles away from the WTC. I can’t even imagine the amount of papers found at Ground Zero itself.
I hope they don’t come after me for the secret I am about to reveal.
The New York Yankees are actually an Islamic terrorist organization.
Yes, it’s true. George Steinbrenner is a deep-cover radical fundamentalist mullah bent on the destruction of the Western capitalist system, and during the off season Joe Torre spends his time in Taliban training camps. The Yankees giant payroll is actually funded by Iran and Syria, not cable TV revenues. Thurman Munson’s 1979 plane crash in Ohio was actually a really early al-Queda training mission for the World Trade Center attacks. And yesterday’s event was only the latest.
You thought that the Yankee’s self-destruction in the first round of the playoffs was just the vagaries of post-season baseball. In reality it was a suicide attack.
Passports are a quick way of having all the identification you need for any travel, not just international. I recently got a new contractor badge to get on the military bases down here, and I could show them my SSN card, driver’s license and an original birth certificate, or just have a passport.
I remember the first item from the crash that killed JFK Jr. and the Bassett sisters was a luggage tag from Lauren Bassett’s garment bag. I think it’s willy-nilly what will survive a plane crash.
Quickly calls travel agent to cancel all travel plans on Boeing 767’s that are made completely out of composite plastic, carry less then 10 gallons of gas and are powered by two lawn-mower engines.
Lidle’s initial strategy to bring down the capitalist empire (throwing small white balls at some of America’s premier athletes) wasn’t working so well, so he had to take it to the next level…
Since I seem to be congenitally unable to create anything funny (sadly, here’s my best work: The Society for Scientific Exploitation - but hey, it’s number one on Google!), I’m always delighted and impressed by the talents of my fellow dopers.
Kudos especially to Alessan and grimpixie.
(By the way, my site is a spoof of the real SSE. Don’t bother with my “contribution” form, it’s broke).
This just proves the government was behind everything. See, they planted the passport at Ground Zero to make everyone think that Atta was responsible for 9/11. Then they killed Lidel, and planted his passport there to cover up for the fact that everyone knows there’s no way a passport could survive a plane crash.
As far as Atta’s passport goes: pretty much nothing of the event is important, except the likelihood that the crushed plane (having been shattered and everyone inside presumably dead) releasing small items, like a passport, black box, briefcase, etc. It doesn’t seem that unlikely to me. Once the plane disintegrates, there’s nothing holding stuff in. Bits go everywhere. And the impact will allow things to fly out - the air itself will be blowing around, sucking things with it. Passports are heavy enough to have some momenum, and are light enough and have a good shape to catch the wind and fly around.